The Year of the TARDIS
by Painted Orchid
Summary: Second in the Heartfelt Holidays series. The Doctor and newly-regenerated Rose return to her Earth to pick up Martha, but make a detour to a New Year's Eve Party. What happens when two jeopardy friendly Time Lords attend a mysterious new celebration? It certainly makes for an interesting start to their new life together. Rated for possibly suggestive themes, really just to be safe.


**AN- Did you know that assumably isn't a real word? I've been using it my entire life, and now autocorrect is telling me it doesn't exist! Definitely not a fun feeling. Anyway, this is my sequel to "Christmases When You Were Mine" and the second story in my Heartfelt Holiday series (sappy name I know…) You should read the Christmas story first or you will be very confused. Anyways, some people requested a sequel chronicling Martha meeting Rose, and I will confess I don't have a great grasp of Martha's character. I have only seen the first… er, 6 or so episodes of season three, and so I apologize if she seems OOC. Read, enjoy, review, and Happy New Year, let's hope 2015 is spectacular, shall we?**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it :) never have, and assumably never will own Doctor Who.**

"Where to first? Barcelona? I never did take you there, kept getting interrupted. Oooh, I know, how would you like a noseless dog for Christmas?" The Doctor was bouncing eagerly around the TARDIS, and Rose just watched. She had missed this so much. Of course, she'd missed the TARDIS too, and she smiled as she felt her new bond with the TARDIS hum in joy and thanks. She'd have to ask the Doctor later how to speak more accurately with the old girl, though he said she'd grasp it pretty quickly. Being a Time Lord certainly had advantages. "Rose, are you alright?" She blinked up at him, realizing she'd been just staring for at least a minute. The worry in his voice was adorable, and she just grinned.

"Fantastic. I just… I just realized how much I missed you, the TARDIS, all of this." To her horror, her eyes filled with tears, even if they were accompanied by a smile. At the Doctor's concerned expression, she launched herself into his arms. He was here, and so was she, in the TARDIS. She still couldn't believe the Christmas miracle that had brought them together once more.

"Are you sure? We can skip Barcelona if you want, just stay here in the vortex for a few days…" he trailed off at Rose's wicked grin, and she watched his adam's apple bob as he swallowed nervously.

"I think you know what I really want to do."

"And what's that," the Doctor said, his voice squeaking slightly. Rose pecked him chastely on the lips and then pulled herself away in the direction of the hallway that marked the 'entertainment' section of the TARDIS.

"Laser-tag battle," Rose said simply, letting out a whoop of laughter as she heard the Doctor's footsteps running after her.

"Oh you're so going to lose. Don't you remember last time?" Rose didn't reply, instead leaping into the dark room the TARDIS had flung open. She blinked in surprise at how bright it was before the lights dimmed further to a laser-worthy blackness. It occurred to Rose that her Time Lord vision was significantly better in the dark. Which meant that last time, she'd been nearly blinded while the Doctor…

"Oi! You cheated last time! Human eyes don't see as well in the dark!" she shouted out, already picking up her favorite gun with the pink laser and darting off into the depths of the maze. The TARDIS had created this whole thing for her really, since Rose couldn't believe the Doctor had never played laser tag. It had taken her long enough to convince him to play, and even then he'd only agreed if she'd let him use the sonic screwdriver in place of one of the guns. Wouldn't touch one, even if they were fake. Now, Rose was stalking the mazelike halls with the most silence she could manage. He hadn't replied to her challenge with a quip about superior senses, which meant that the Doctor was already on the prowl. This time, Rose had the same advantages. Plus, she had several months of Torchwood training.

Rose whirled around as she heard, somewhere far off, the sound of his footsteps, soft on the rubbery ground beneath. It frustrated her that she couldn't pinpoint it. Fat lot of good her 'superior senses' were doing her when she couldn't even figure the damn things out. Dropping low to the ground, prepared to run, Rose stalked slowly around a corner, straining to listen for the sound of breathing. She had just turned towards what she thought was a hallway, only to come up against a solid wall and hear the whirring of the sonic behind her, ready to fire.

"For your information, Miss Tyler, I never cheated. You did not say that I couldn't use my naturally better skills. Unfortunately, humans have pretty poor eyesight in anything less than the brightest of lights. And their hearing is abysmal. Really, you should agree with me. Isn't it amazing how much better your vision is now? Oh dear, that was rude, wasn't it, you don't mind that I said that do you? I know you said that you're happy about, well your, er, regeneration, but if you aren't comfortable just- hey!" The Doctor pouted at the little pink laser spot on his chest, marking where Rose had hit him with a pink smiley face.

"Well, that gob of yours certainly helped me to win this time. Naturally better skills eh?" She smirked. The Doctor stepped closer, lowering the sonic, and Rose swallowed. She couldn't see the expression in his eyes, and though she didn't _think_ he was mad, she couldn't help but remember that they'd been apart for a long time. And they'd both changed. He stopped beside her, and her breath hitched as he cupped her cheek, bringing his lips down to meet hers. Oh. And that was the last rational thought Rose had for quite a while, until the Doctor pulled away and she remembered to start breathing again.

"Respiratory bypass certainly comes in handy," Rose managed to say, licking her lips, her arms still wrapped around his shoulders, one hand tangled in his hair. He met her gaze with a brilliant grin.

"Yes it does." And then he leaned back towards her. Rose lost herself in his taste, and his smell, and the simple pleasure of just _being _with him, and then reluctantly pulled away as she remembered what they were _supposed _to do when they got back to the TARDIS.

"Not to interrupt us or anything, but weren't you supposed to do some proper scan or something to figure out what happened to me since that last one was a little rushed? I mean, we can always do that later," Rose said hopefully. The Doctor sighed, but they could both see that they really needed to figure out this mystery.

"Weeelll, yes. I mean, there are many other things I'd rather do later as well," he said, adding a seductive eyebrow wiggle to his words that made Rose giggle while her hearts pounded just a little bit faster. "But I am certainly curious how Bad Wolf and my- our lovely TARDIS pulled this off." He was now looking at her a little less lustily, and rather like she was an extremely interesting science project. "C'mon, love." She grinned in surprise at his words, reminded not for the first time how different things had been since they'd found each other. And then he pulled away slightly and unwound his arm from her waist. "I need to run some tests. This is going to be a brilliant puzzle, I can already tell!" he said happily, either missing or ignoring the way Rose rolled her eyes and sighed as he tugged her eagerly by the hand towards the med-bay. She tossed her pink gun on the rack on the way out, and stifled a grin at the Doctor's impatient foot-tapping as he waited to drag her off for the how-did-Rose-Tyler-turn-into-a-Time-Lord examination.

"Oh it only took a second to put that away, and I'm as anxious to see this as you are," Rose scolded, though the Doctor just sniffed in response.

It only took them 29 seconds to reach the med-bay, which the TARDIS had moved closer. Rose could feel her excitement, and realized the TARDIS wanted them to figure out how she had turned Rose into a Time Lord. And saved her life, Rose realized. She sent the TARDIS a heartfelt thank you, and the Doctor glanced back at her with a soft smile on his face as the ship around them gave a happy thrum.

"I really need to teach you how to work on your telepathy, considering that you're talking so loudly inside your head, weeellll outside your head really, that any remotely telepathic being for the next hundred miles would've heard you," he said, and Rose blushed as she wondered what _else_ she'd been unconsciously broadcasting. "Now sit there, and be very still while this cool whirly light scans your DNA with its nucleotic diatomray" he said in a very official, clinical voice that was completely bellied by his inability to use any sort of technical term that made sense. Rose was pretty sure he made up most, if not all of his techno babble.

"You know, I've had a bit of a brain boost since regenerating and learned mechanical engineering at Torchwood. As far as I know, there's no such thing as a nucleotic diatomray."

"It's too high-tech for you," he said smugly, and Rose just glared at him, realizing too late that he'd effectively gotten the last word by turning on the scanner and making her stand absolutely still. The scan was over after only a few seconds, and by then he was too engrossed in reading the results to keep bantering with her. Rose was intrigued too, and as soon as she was released from the blue light, bounded over to read the results from beside his shoulder. Or try to read it anyways. It really just looked like scribbles of rainbow colors. "Oooh, that's… wow, that's ingenious. Totally impossible, but somehow it worked. Now what's that holding the DNA into a TNA triple helix strand… Oh it's time vortex energy wound into your very genetic code. That's brilliant! I have no idea how the TARDIS did that, but Rose you are genetically er, 85% Time Lord!" he sung happily. Rose, on the other hand, was wary.

"What does 85% mean? As far as I can tell I'm pretty much all Time Lord now. I regenerated, and I'm pretty sure that's one of the defining features. I'm not going to like… stop being Time Lord-y at some point am I?" Rose asked, all of the dreams that she'd started hoping for suddenly tenuous. What if she didn't have the lifespan of a Time Lord, and aged and died like a human? She didn't think she'd want to put the Doctor through losing her again. She must have been thinking loudly enough that the Doctor picked up on some of her thoughts, because he pulled her into his side and stroked her hair comfortingly.

"Oh Rose, it doesn't mean much. As best I can tell, you're _mostly_ Time Lord, but a little bit of human DNA is still there buried deep down. I think, you might just have fewer regenerations than a typical Time Lord. The TARDIS is telling me it's ten instead of twelve, well nine now" Rose felt her eyes widen in horror, and he continued quickly, "but that's more than me, so I'm pretty sure you'll be okay."

"Doctor, what regeneration did you say you were on," Rose asked softly, only vaguely remembering their conversation just after she awoke from regenerating. She noted with worry that he didn't meet her eyes. "Please."

"Um… ten," he said, and winced at the shock on Rose's face. "I've burned through quite a few recently."

"You regenerated for the tenth time when you absorbed the vortex from me," Rose said softly, the full impact of his actions sinking in. She remembered how painful it was, and was once more reminded that he had given up one of his precious few remaining lives for her. His eyes softened

"You were worth it Rose. Still are in fact. Which reminds me, Barcelona. Still have to get you that dog!" he said with a grin that was a little too wide. Rose knew better than to force him to talk about it though. He'd catch a break this time, since she didn't really want to talk about how she'd essentially killed his leather self either. It had already been brought up twice, and before she didn't realize how much he'd sacrificed, tenth out of his twelve regenerations. She didn't want to have that conversation. Not yet anyways. They started walking towards the console room, arms knitted together and walking perfectly in step. It was like the last seven months had never happened. And then she thought about the short lived laser-tag game and blushed. Things had changed, for the better. Struggling to focus on something other than every inch of her that was brushing against the Doctor- fingers, arm, hip- with every step, Rose thought back to the last thing she remembered him saying. Barcelona. Dogs.

"Isn't that a little too domestic?" Rose teased, watching him wrinkle his nose in distaste and feeling a little relief at the familiar routine of banter.

"It's a Barcelonian dog, I hardly think that an alien dog counts as domestics. And with you…."

"It's not so bad," Rose finished, sharing a grin as the memory from Krop-Tor washed over her. She was suddenly struck with a realization, something that she'd always interpreted differently that strangely made sense now. "Doctor- the Beast, it said I would die in battle."

"Rose-" he started, face concerned and worried. She noticed that he held her a little tighter, more protectively, and the thought spread warmth through her body, even as she looked imploringly into his brown eyes with her own greenish-blue.

"No, don't you see? It was right. I died- in battle, even if it wasn't permanent. This was always supposed to happen," Rose said, watching as his eyes widened in first surprise and confusion, and then softening to the warm, mysterious emotion that she had begun to recognize as the I'm-about-to-snog-you look.

"What would the universe be without Rose Tyler and the Doctor, stuff of legends?" he said, voice low and seductive. Rose squeaked in surprise.

"You said my name first! I never thought you'd be able to humble yourself to any degree." The look in his eyes and the proximity of his lips to hers was really killing Rose's ability to think straight.

"You're always first to me, Rose," he breathed, warm breath landing on her lips as she unconsciously tipped hers to meet his. She was dimly aware of the console at her back, and his arm reaching past her shoulder, probably for the switch to go to Barcelona, seeing as he'd already put in the coordinates. But as their lips met, there was a startling ringing, unfamiliar and unwelcome, and it took Rose several seconds to come out of her daze enough to recognize it as the ringing of a phone.

"You have a phone now?" Rose asked in amusement, as the Doctor pulled away and eyed the mobile that was cheerfully bleating out a generic ringtone with distaste.

"Martha made me take it. Something about how she was afraid I'd forget to come back. Not that I would of course. But I might get… distracted. Especially now," the Doctor said, running his eyes up and down Rose in a way that made her spine tingle. She shook off that thought and eyed the still ringing mobile sitting in the Doctor's hand.

"Go on, answer it," Rose said with a roll of her eyes. The Doctor looked disappointed, as though he would've much rather been _distracted_, although Rose definitely understood the sentiment. She watched in amusement as he winced at what sounded like an extremely irritated female voice on the other end, something about how he was supposed to be back by now, and what sounded suspiciously like "popping in for a visit on New Year's Day and then vanishing again." Finally, when the voice stopped its rant, the Doctor cut in.

"Okay Martha, I'll show up today- er, well, whatever day it is there. And I have a surprise for you," he said brightly. Rose grinned, eager to meet this Martha, who, from the Doctor's description, sounded like a clever woman who she'd get along with fabulously. He hung up quickly, presumably before she could resume her lecture, and flashed Rose an apologetic smile. "Maybe Barcelona later then. Otherwise we might forget to go back for Martha, did I ever mention how lovely Barcelona's beaches are this time of year?" Rose blushed at his comment, but waggled her finger.

"Doctor, it can be any time of year we want it to be. And is that really what you were thinking about when you mentioned Barcelona the first time?" Rose quipped, giving him a tongue-in-teeth smile as he shifted guiltily, not meeting her eyes.

"Maybe. It's a very romantic planet. Even if you don't care for noseless dogs, or two-tailed cats," he said, looking up as Rose let out a snort. She couldn't hold it back anymore.

"I love you, but you can be really daft sometimes. Let's go see this Martha before we're so late she kills us both," Rose said, surprising herself with the ease with which the words slipped from her lips. The Doctor's hands stilled from where they were on the console and he looked back at her, eyes burning with passion. Here they went again.

"I love you too Rose. Even when you insult me," his hand rested on her lower back and pulled her closer, and Rose almost lost herself in his embrace before she groaned in frustration.

"Earth, Doctor. Martha. C'mon, I want to see my home planet again. The real one, not the parallel one." He made some sort of strange disappointed sound that Rose silently remarked sounded like a cross between a whine and a squeak, and finally turned back to the console to adjust the coordinates and flip the switches. As he darted around, pressing buttons and using the mallet in a way that made her wince for the TARDIS' sake- although the old girl quickly assured her it didn't hurt a bit- Rose reflected that after everything that had happened, and whatever else would happen, they would be perfect together; and this was where she belonged.

**AN- Okay, that was the first chapter. This is either going to be two or three chapters, sorry this is so short, but I pretty much wrote this from scratch and the ideas just went directly from brain to keys. Next chapter, New Year's Eve celebrations, Rose and the Doctor style! Review if you slept in incredibly late today after several-hours-past-midnight partying!**


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